Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is the capital and second most populous city in the United Arab Emirates after Dubai. The city itself is cosmopolitan but unmistakeably Arabian in feel and tradition. The urban area is punctuated with pleasant gardens, oases of calm among the tall glass skyscrapers in this city of nearly a million.

Abu Dhabi is on a T-shaped island about a kilometre away from the mainland connected by the Maqta and Mussafah bridges. It makes up nearly 80% of the UAE’s land area and following years of cultivation, around 5% of this is green made up of parks and plantations.The coastal part of Abu Dhabi does contain some wetland and mangrove.

"Dozens of smaller islands make up Abu Dhabi and they are in the main uninhabited. Many of these have been designated sanctuaries for wildlife."

Despite pre-conceptions of a city in the desert there are many varied topographical features ranging from the Jebel Hafeet mountain to the Al-Wathba Wetland Reserve; from the natural oases at Al-Ain and Liwa to the Saxaul dew forest.